Page 46 of Deadly Obsession
I did as he ordered, not wishing to have Brian’s blood on my hands or get shot myself. “Here, Arthur, take it. Just be cool. You don’t want to kill anyone. We’re friends, remember?”
His icy-blue eyes bore into me, chilling my entire being.
“You’re hurt,” I stated quietly, noticing the dark crimson leaking from his chest and another cut on the top of his shoulder. “I can help bandage you up. I can?—”
He slowly raised the barrel of the revolver to my gut and pushed lightly, shutting me up without further argument.
“Exactly. Arthur, no need for any more violence, right? This is just some crazy joke, isn’t it?” Brian said, attempting to force a chuckle, but it was clear he was on the verge of crying. His confidence likely drowned out by the alcohol.
Arthur’s hand closed around the action of the shotgun, and I slowly pulled my arm away.
“Thank you. Now please help Mr. Brian up, and the two of you stand in front of the fireplace.” He took a few steps back, tucking the revolver into his waistband and raising the shotgun towards us.
I kept my hands where he could see them and carefully helped Brian to his feet.
“You all won’t mind if I enjoy some of your liquor will you?” Arthur said, stepping over to the table with the alcohol while never taking his eyes off us.
“No, of course not. Help yourself, Arthur. There’s plenty. We could all just sit down and catch up with a few?” I said, trying to sound as pleasant as possible.
I glanced around the room as I helped Brian over to the fireplace, my eyes landing on Sera. She was totally bottled up, the euphoria that the two of us had shared in the kitchen minutes ago a distant memory.
The sound of a drink being poured brought my attention back to Arthur. “Oh, a wine guy, huh? Always figured you for a whiskey guy for some reason,” I said in a light, teasing tone as I tried to figure a way out of our current situation.
“Danielle, could you be so kind as to shut the fuck up?” Arthur looked over to me, and I could have sworn he was smiling from beneath the mask. Keeping his eyes on me, he walked over to Sera, resting the shotgun up against his shoulder with one hand while clutching two glasses of red wine in the other. “Here you go, my dear. For what is a show without a nice drink?”
When she didn’t move or even look at him, he let out a disappointed sigh and sat both glasses down on the end table beside Jade’s body on the couch. He quickly ripped the blanket off her. Revealing the pale, stiff corpse of our friend.
“Oh, Jade, you’ve looked better, my dear. Would you mind holding Sera’s wine for her?” He paused a moment before picking up one of the glasses and setting it between her thighs. “Thank you so much, my dear.” He patted her dead cheek, and the mere idea of him violating her body by simply touching her face had me fuming.
But I was powerless. Standing next to the fireplace as Brian rested one arm along the mantle to keep his balance.
“What show, Arthur?” I dared to ask.
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he grabbed the second glass of wine and stepped back over to the sofa chair, where he could see all three of us.
Where he could shoot us, if he wanted to.
“You and Brian are going to put on a sex show for Sera and me. She always wanted to spice things up in the bedroom, try new things. I admit I never humored her. So we’re going to watch some live porn right now.” He raised his glass in the direction of Sera, as if to offer her a toast.
“You can’t be serious. I’m not even into men.” I lookedfrom one person in the room to another before refocusing on Arthur.
“That is quite all right. I remember you saying you were a drama kid in your younger days. Just act it out.” He smiled as he got comfortable on the chair, setting his wine on the stand beside him, but I didn’t miss the way he winced when he did it.
There was going to be an opportunity for us to overpower him. There were three of us, after all, and he was wounded. I looked from Sera to Brian again, taking in their physical and mental states.
We still had him outnumbered even if all of us weren’t in the best shape at the moment.
“Look, Arthur, she and I don’t need to do?—”
BANG!Brian’s attempt at helping the situation was cut off by a thunderous gunshot and a splintering of wood.
“Fuck!” I screamed while Brian and Sera appeared to react in a very similar way.
Arthur was leaning forward in his chair, the shotgun now aimed at Brian, after having added a new hole in the wall to the side of the fireplace. “That’s enough talking. No more talking! Danielle, be a good girl and get on your knees for Brian,” he commanded, and I obeyed.
My body trembled, and my ears were ringing as I slowly dropped to one knee and then the other in front of Brian. When I looked up at him, I realized he was shaking as much as I was.
Our eyes locked, and he whispered, “I’m sorry.”
